ON SOCIAL INCLUSION, 2007–2013
EVALUATION REPORT
ALBANIAN CENTER FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH
Tirana, September 2012
Acronyms
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women
CPI Consumer Price Index
CPU Child Protection Unit
CSO Civil Society Organisation
DIPTA Document of Inter-sector Policies on Third Age
DP Disabled Person
RDE Regional Directory of Education
EU European Union
FG Focus Group
GDP Gross Domestic Product
IDU Injecting Drug User
INSTAT Institute of Statistics
IPH Institute of Public Health
LFS Labour Force Survey
LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender persons
LSMS Living Standards Measurement Survey
MES Ministry of Education and Science
METE Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy
MLSAEO Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
MoH Ministry of Health
MoI Ministry of Interior
MoJ Ministry of Justice
MPWT Ministry of Public Works and Transport
MTCYS Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports
NAPCR National Authority for the Protection of Child Rights
NES National Employment Service
NPO Non Profit Organisation
NSDI National Strategy for Development and Integration
NSGE National Strategy on Gender Equality
NSSI National Strategy for Social Inclusion
PHI Public Health Institute
SAPRC State Agency for the Protection of the Rights of the Child
SDV Strategy against Domestic Violence
SLI State Labour Inspectorate
HII Health Insurance Institute
SII Social Insurance Institute
SSS State Social Services
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5
INTRODUCTION 7
Evaluation objectives 7
Target audience 8
Main sources of information 8
CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF ALBANIA’S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION, 2008–2012 9
CHAPTER 2: EVALUATION METHODOLOGY 12
2.1. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH 12
2.2. EVALUATION INSTRUMENTS 12
2.3. STAKEHOLDERS 14
2.4. LIMITATIONS 15
CHAPTER 3: EVALUATION RESULTS AND FINDINGS 16
3.1. OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGY 16
3.1.1. Relevance of NSSI 16
3.1.2. Efficacy of NSSI 16
3.1.3. Effectiveness of NSSI 17
3.1.4. Impact of NSSI 18
3.1.5. Sustainability of NSSI 19
3.2. EVALUATING IMPACT OF NSSI ON EXCLUDED GROUPS 20
3.2.1. Children at Risk 20
3.2.2. Young People in Need 25
3.2.3. Roma Community 28
3.3.4. Disabled People 33
3.2.5. Elderly people 37
3.2.6. Victims of Gender-Based Violence 40
3.3. NSSI IMPACT ON CENTRAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES 46
3.4 MONITORING AND REPORTING ON PROGRESS WITH NSSI IMPLEMENTATION 46
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 46
4.1. CONCLUSIONS 46
4.2. RECOMMENDATIONS 46
4.2.1. Policy level recommendations—Harmonization of NSSI with the government’s programme 46
4.2.2 Institutional level recommendations 46
4.2.3. Finance-related recommendations 46
4.2.4. Recommendations on NSSI implementation, monitoring and reporting 46
APPENDIX A. INFORMATION ON STRATEGY TARGETS 46
A.1. Children 46
A.2. Young people in need 46
A.3. Roma community 46
A.4. Disabled people 46
A.5. Elderly 46
A.6. Women and domestic violence 46
A.7. Women and gender equality 46
APPENDIX B: Terminology of the Cross-Sectorial Social Inclusion Strategy 46
58
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This evaluation report is a result of action taken by Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MLSAEO) to inform the government of Albania on the validity of the existing National Strategy for Social Inclusion (NSSI) as a conceptual, planning and monitoring instrument. NSSI is intended to guide a concerted inter-sectorial effort for the social inclusion of vulnerable groups in Albanian society. The report was prepared by the Albanian Center for Economic Research and funded by UNICEF.
The evaluation report includes the following:
· a review of available documents related to implementation of sector policies and strategies comprising the NSSI, and the drawing of conclusions in relation to the patterns of social exclusion, their characteristics, trends, incidence and other relevant issues
· an analysis of the extent to which NSSI guides the national development policies and the models of allocating resources, in combination with measures to bring about social inclusion of the most excluded groups
· a list of recommendations to MLSAEO in relation to the policies and measures for reviewing, improving and designing new inclusion and social protection strategies
· a list of practical recommendations on how to improve management, monitoring and reporting on progress of the social inclusion strategy from an inter-sectorial perspective.
The main achievements of the Inter-sectorial Strategy on Social Inclusion include the following:
· increased attention and responsibility of central government towards the situation and the problems of groups in need and those at risk of social exclusion, as evidenced by:
- improvements made to the legal framework
- design of better policies and programmes
- increased range of social services delivery
- holding of awareness campaigns
- greater participation of vulnerable groups in decision making and policy making.
· increased interest of CSOs and international organisations to implement programmes and projects to improve the quality of life for vulnerable groups
· establishment of structures and capacity building efforts at all levels of implementation of programmes and policies to support groups in need
· positive steps taken towards increasing the range of social services delivery for groups in need.
The evaluation focused on some of the main weak points of NSSI, including the following:
· failure to identify budgets to implement policies and programmes designed to improve the situation of groups in need, resulting in partial and unsustainable fulfilment of the foreseen measures
· poor regional and local policies, which fall short of addressing the specific needs of excluded groups, particularly in the rural and mountainous parts of the country
· the existence of incomplete statistical data at both the central and local level, hindering a deep and adequate understanding of the situation of groups in need, and resulting in incomplete measures and policies that fail to be inclusive and yield only a limited social impact.
In conclusion, in order to prevent social exclusion and to inform members of groups at risk of being excluded, as well as relevant service providers, it is essential to review the current social inclusion strategy. To ensure its sustainability and compliance with the strategic programmes of the Albanian government, the strategy review should undertake the following steps:
a) Establish strong inter-institutional cooperation between central and local governments.
b) Enhance the understanding of social service providers and users of the rights of the latter, and the responsibilities of the former, towards improving service delivery and strengthening transparency and accountability.
c) Take action to design a communication strategy on the objectives of NSSI, its policies and indicators.
d) Design a detailed action plan giving estimates and allocations of adequate funding levels and realistic timelines for programme implementation.
58
INTRODUCTION
The Inter-sectorial Strategy on Social Inclusion (2007–2013), herein also referred to as the National Strategy on Social Inclusion (NSSI), is a policy document under the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI). NSDI sets the long-term objectives of the Albanian government to achieve economic growth and improve the living standards of the country’s population. It underlines the importance of education, health care services and adequate infrastructure as national priorities to underpin poverty reduction and long-term sustainable growth.
NSSI is based entirely on existing national strategies, including those on Roma people, children and disabled individuals. As a component part of NSDI, NSSI focuses on the risks of poverty and social exclusion, which continue to exist despite the upturn in economic growth. As an inter-sector strategy, it is at the same time in full harmony with the specific policies of the sectorial and institutional arrangements aimed at supporting vulnerable individuals, families and groups at the community level in order to empower them to act for themselves, to become self sufficient and enjoy the same rights as other members of society.
Since the start of implementation of the Strategy in 2008, there has been only one Progress Report, in 2009, on the monitoring of measures contained in NSSI according to the indicators set by MLSAEO. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) supported the design and publishing of that report, which appeared in 2010, and which describes progress on legislation improvements, strengthening of policy making and implementation structures involved with vulnerable groups, and the status of concrete measures taken towards achieving the objectives under NSSI. In addition, the report identifies a number of problems, specifically the following: a) lack of data, in particular data serving to identify the most excluded groups and their specific problems, making it difficult to measure the degree of their social exclusion and deprivation; b) lack of allocations to implement NSSI; and c) lack of human resources, or adequate professional capacities, or both, in the existing public administration staff.
Evaluation objectives
The main objective of the present monitoring report on implementation of NSSI is to present the progress and dynamics of measures and policies taken towards the ultimate objective of advancing social inclusion of vulnerable populations in Albania.
Poverty issues have been for many years at the core of national development policies. Recently there has been increased attention on the development and empowerment of groups in need. The present report attempts to produce a systemic analysis of the harmonization of the legislation and policies at the national level with the standards and measures contained in NSSI.
This report is designed to provide government with feedback on progress made to improve the situation of groups in need from a rights-based approach vis-à-vis the objectives under the social inclusion strategy. This approach is one of the primary strategic objectives towards the measurement of progress under NSSI, based on performance evidence and indicators. A solid basis of evidence is essential for a meaningful and concrete assessment of results under social inclusion interventions. Moreover, indicators are an integral part of instruments to measure progress towards the long-term objectives.
The report pays attention to not just how government has performed as an active change agent to benefit the vulnerable groups from an inclusive point of view, but also to the role of civil society in general, and the private sector and international community as partners in Albania’s development processes. In addition, it pays considerable attention to how and in what manner this partnership can be improved to benefit groups in need.
Lastly, this progress report serves both the purpose of monitoring the performance of the main actors vis-à-vis their relevant responsibilities in implementation of NSSI, which will continue to be valid throughout 2013, and as a basis for a review of NSSI as the main inter-sector document under NSDI.
Target audience
The target audience of this evaluation exercise is MLSAEO, the main institution responsible for the design and monitoring of NSSI; the parties to the formulation and implementation of policies under NSSI, i.e. the line ministries (Justice, MoJ; Education and Science, MES; Health, MoH; Public Works and Transport, MPWT; Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports, MTCYS) as the central institutions and government agencies; the implementers of programmes at the central, regional and local level (regional councils, municipalities and communes) under the obligation to adhere to NSSI and its action plan and the providers of services for excluded groups. The present evaluation report aims to draw the attention of civil society organisations (CSOs) to involve excluded groups in the consultations with MLSAEO and other line ministries on policy design and decision-making processes, and of media operators as key partners in informing and building public awareness, in particular of the communities with a stake in the NSSI objectives.
Main sources of information
This report focuses on the implementation of NSSI and the degree to which the objectives for 2008–2011 have been achieved in relation to the relevant indicators. The baseline for this progress report is determined by 2009 data, whenever these data have been available. To assess the indicators under the strategy, the authors of this report have used statistical sources and information from various state institutions, consisting mainly of administrative data or survey findings gathered by INSTAT, such as the Labour Force Surveys, Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) 2008, etc. With regard to indicators for which no statistical data are available, the authors used information and facts from secondary sources—reports and research studies published by Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) and international organisations.
CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF ALBANIA’S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION, 2008–2012
From the beginning of the new millennium up until the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008 the Albanian economy was characterised by constant expansion. The transforming and restructuring of the economy and the macroeconomic policies implemented over these years created opportunities for sustainable economic growth, at about six percent annually considered to be among the highest in the region. Such a high growth rate led naturally to consolidated macroeconomic stability. The GDP was increasing thanks to efficient utilization of capital and improvement in productivity, reflected in the transfer of the labour force from low-productivity to high-productivity sectors. At the same time, unemployment rates gradually fell, to 12.7 percent at the end of that period.
These positive developments and satisfactory stability of the financial sector played an important role in the performance of the different economic sectors. Meanwhile, business crediting increased at stable rates, though it has gradually declined more recently. Moreover, indicators that measure the country’s financial stability have been kept under control, contributing thus to stable confidence among local and foreign investors. This growth in confidence and in the levels of efficiency, and to a certain extent also competiveness, has contributed to substantial improvement in the position of the Albanian economy with regard to foreign markets.
Over this period, the interest of foreign investors in the Albanian economy increased considerably, reflected in the ample influxes of foreign capital, in the form of financial investment including foreign direct investment. The current account deficit was maintained at relatively low and manageable levels compared to other countries in the region. From 2007–2008 there was a deepening of the deficit, caused mainly by a strong investing trend, both by government and the private sector, alongside other temporary factors. Meanwhile, the growth of the deficit was covered partly by increases in the influx of capital. As a result, the general balance of payments experienced a yearly average surplus of about 2.6 percent of GDP, and the stock of currency reserves of the monetary authority was sufficient to finance about four months of imports of goods and services.